There's a Reason Time Flies Faster as We Age

There are also some ways we can slow the passing of time

As a kid, I often heard adults talk about how fast the time goes by and how "It seemed like only yesterday when…" Or, the last time I saw you, you were about so tall.

It made little sense to me back then. I just figured it's something that older adults say, much like they talk about their medications. Sometimes, they say something like, "Oh, that was years ago."

When I was in sixth grade, "years ago" is what fourth grade felt like to me. My entire grade school experience still feels like it lasted for ions. The summers were extended, full of adventure with friends, exploration, and travel to unknown realms.

The school year felt eternal. All teachers were old and had no lives outside of the classroom. A school day felt endless — the large round-faced clock in every classroom ticked and mocked, agonizingly slow, especially that last hour.

That Was Then

Now that I've express-passed through middle age and am beginning to claim some benefits (and detriments) from becoming a senior, I get it now.

I get all of it. All of the maladies and concerns that those "old" people frequently referred to when I was a child. Things like reading glasses, blood pressure medications, stiff joints, weight-gain struggles, peeing issues, and fiber supplements.

The thing that I don't quite get is this concept of quick time-passing. How right the old-timers were. The older you get, the faster the weeks, months, and years fly by. I did a bit of investigating, and here are some of the theories out there to explain that phenomenon.

Why Time Flies as You Age

According to research from study findings presented at a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington D.C., it's a matter of how time is perceived differently between younger and older people.

Peter Mangan, a psychologist at Clinch Valley College in Wise, Virginia, and his colleagues asked 25 young people aged between 19 and 24, and 15 older people aged between 60 and 80, to estimate a 3-minute interval by counting “seconds” using a “1, 1000, 2, 1000, …” technique. The young adults did this almost perfectly, averaging 3 minutes 3 seconds. But an average of 3 minutes 40 seconds flew by before the older people thought that just 3 minutes had elapsed.

These were not retired people who had little concern about time. These older study participants were teachers and professionals on rather strict timetables. Yet they were consistently exceeding their time estimate.

The theory is that there's a difference in the brain's internal clock, which is different from the circadian clock, governing daily activity cycles. It runs at a slower pace in older people. Few would argue that many things begin to run slower as we age. This results in the pace of life appearing to speed up.

Another Theory

Other research suggests that time passage relates to new information and experiences.

Everything is new when you're young. Your brain has more information to process. This could be why the passage of time is perceived as moving slower. It appears that after age 20, time begins to move quicker due to reduced release of dopamine levels, in line with reduced "novel" stimuli. In other words — less new experiences under the sun.

And Yet Another!

This is the most popular theory, and it makes good sense. As we age, each subsequent year is a smaller increment of our total life. If you are ten years old, a year represents ten percent of your life. And if you are fifty years old, a year represents merely two percent of your life.

As we age, most of us find ourselves in a set routine. When we get stuck in regular patterns and aren't challenging our brains with any new information, time will go faster.

If you take a little mental leap, you can also land on the same conclusion that I did as a solution to help reclaim that slower time pace again.

Get Some New Experiences and Do Some Different Things!

Think about all the new experiences and information you've processed when you're young. Those first big family picnics — smells of grilled food, first good friendships and crushes that seemed to last forever.

Remember your first swim, first time on a roller-coaster, first kiss? What about your first days at school or the first time you flew on an airplane? Your first job where you had real responsibility and made some real spending cash!

Since all those experiences were new at some point, time passed more slowly. No matter how old we are, there's always another first time for something.

Learn a new language or take up playing an instrument. Travel to places that you've never been before. Go to a foreign country and experience a different culture. Volunteer your time to a worthy cause.

Set new goals, get out of your comfort range, and challenge yourself. If you've never run — train for a half marathon. Take a course in scuba diving and explore a coral reef before they disappear.

New experience can be relatively inexpensive. If you don't cook, start doing it now. Find a new hiking trail every week and get lost in the woods for some time. Find ways to practice mindfulness and being present. Yoga and meditation are excellent.

If you hate winter, figure out how to get out in the snow. Start reading stuff you usually wouldn't read — maybe explore the classics or read the Bible.

Not only will these new activities help to slow down the clock, but they will also increase the sense of accomplishment. You'll feel younger as you begin to acquire and conquer new goals.

I've found it true as I began writing more frequently this year. Every story I write becomes a new adventure, a gained experience, and an accomplishment.

I need to remind myself to get up and move every so often. I tend to stiffen up at my age if I sit too long.